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Blue Jays’ death spiral picking up speed

Omar Vizquel’s criticism of Blue Jays coaching staff results in 30-minute team meeting before Friday’s loss to the New York Yankees.

Blue Jays' Brett Lawrie is caught wandering off second base and is tagged out by Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter after a ground ball to first base in the first inning Friday night. (Chris Young / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

By Brendan KennedySports Reporter

Sat., Sept. 29, 2012

The last thing the Blue Jays needed was more bad vibes.

After all the injuries, Yunel Escobar’s eye black and what is shaping up to be the club’s second-worst record since 1995, the Jays would have happily let their ill-fated season die a quick and quiet death.

Instead, they are dealing with more controversy of their own making.

Omar Vizquel, the 45-year-old infielder who will play his final major-league game on Wednesday, publicly criticized Jays manager John Farrell and the team’s coaching staff for not doing enough this season to hold young players accountable for fundamental mistakes.

Farrell held a 30-minute team meeting before Friday’s game against the New York Yankees to address Vizquel’s comments, calling them “a tipping point” to address “a number of things.”

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Vizquel apologized to Farrell and his teammates during the meeting, but afterward said he didn’t regret what he said.

“I think that we really do need to talk a little bit more about the things that we do on the field,” Vizquel said after the meeting.

Barely two innings into Friday’s game, Vizquel’s teammates made him look accurate by wasting a pair of leadoff doubles. First, Brett Lawrie was caught wandering off second on a ground ball and then Yunel Escobar was picked off at third following a strikeout — exactly the kind of mental errors Vizquel was talking about.

“Some anticipation that didn’t work out well,” Farrell said after the game about the two plays. “Obviously those things are addressed, they continue to be discussed in advance of and during and after.”

Just as disgruntled Leaf fans chanted “Let’s Go Blue Jays!” inside the Air Canada Centre last April on the eve of baseball’s Opening Day, there were calls of “Go Leafs Go” inside a sullen Rogers Centre as the Yankees clobbered the Jays 11-4 and the cynical circle of life for Toronto sports fans made another revolution.

After the meeting, Farrell told reporters Vizquel’s comments were uninformed because he is not privy to the one-on-one meetings regularly held with individual players.

Farrell said he prefers to address players individually, rather than singling them out with the rest of the team, whenever possible. Matters are dealt with collectively only “when needed,” he said.

Farrell added that by virtue of his age and stature in the game, Vizquel also hasn’t participated in the extra practice sessions for younger players, so he wouldn’t see the additional teaching and instruction that goes on.

Although he stood by his comments, Vizquel said he was sorry about how they came out.

“I didn’t want to make any problems or talk bad about my coaching staff,” said the 11-time Gold Glove winner, who has made clear his own aspirations of becoming a big-league manager one day. “All I have is love for them. These guys really bust their butt here. They’re there for us and it was my fault.”

But Vizquel said he didn’t think the team deserved the tongue-lashing from the manager.

“Just because of my comments, John brought out a lot of things,” he said, later declining to elaborate on the other “things.” “It’s obviously my fault for this meeting.”

Vizquel said he believes the Jays have what it takes to be a contending team. His comments, he said, were aimed at helping the club get to the next level.

“We have a lot of talent. We’re pretty close to turning things around,” he said. “What I see is that we just need to communicate a little more.”

The Yankees maintained their single-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles for first in the AL East. Toronto-born Russell Martin hit a three-run homer off Jays reliever Jason Frasor as the Yankees batted around in the sixth inning and put the game out of reach.

With his father Tony in attendance, Colby Rasmus tied a career high with his 23rd home run of the season. It was just the sixth homer for Rasmus since the all-star break. Adam Lind added a two-run, opposite-field homer in the seventh, his third since coming off the disabled list a month ago. Rajai Davis finished 4-for-4.

JENKINS KNOCKED AROUND

Making his second career start, 24-year-old Chad Jenkins struggled early against the patient Yankees lineup, giving up two runs on a trio of hits in the first frame. The most exciting moment in his outing also came in the first, when Yankees centre fielder Curtis Granderson lined a comebacker right into the pocket of Jenkins’ glove, knocking it clear off his hand. Jenkins then caught the fluttering glove to make the out.

“I let go of it and I was like, ‘Ah, that’s not going to be good.’ Then sure enough he smoked it back at me. I got a glove on it and then as soon as I felt it hit my glove I was like, ‘Uh, I don’t know where my glove is.’ I looked up and sure enough it was spinning. I don’t know how, but somehow I ended up with my glove and the baseball.”

He left the game with two outs in the fourth inning, having given up three runs on four hits and three walks.

LOVULLO TO CLEVELAND?

A day after the Cleveland Indians fired their manager Manny Acta, rumours were already swirling that Jays first-base coach Torey Lovullo may be a candidate for the vacated post. Lovullo was a manager in Cleveland’s farm system and played a season for the Indians in 1998.

“Torey is a manager in waiting, as I see it,” Farrell said Friday when asked about the rumours. “He’s very capable, knowledgeable about the game; he’s a good communicator and I think it’s a matter of time before he has his own club.”

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